On Thursday, November 9th, 2023, and Saturday, November 11th, 2023 at Shore Lanes, team placements for the 2023-2024 LSHS bowling team will take place.
Unlike previous years, the boy’s and girl’s teams will have tryouts at different times. The boy’s team will be having their tryouts on Saturday, November 11th, 2023, from 11:30 A.M to 1:30 P.M, and the girl’s team will be having their tryouts on two different days.
Tryouts for the girl’s team will take place on Thursday, November 9th, 2023 from 5:45 P.M. to 7:45 P.M. Then, the girls’ team will return for day #2 of tryouts, which will take place on Saturday, November 11th, 2023, from 11:30 A.M to 1:30 P.M.
While the team aspect of the sport makes it seem very daunting, this isn’t true, as it can help build the team’s chemistry, which could lead to people building relationships that would last a lifetime, when competition arises, if the team has good chemistry, that could lead to a victory.
This was proven when the varsity team captured their first Macomb Area Conference (MAC) Red Division varsity team championship title on Saturday, January 14th, 2023, at Sterling Lanes in Sterling Heights, Michigan. An article from The Macomb Daily provided some insight into what was going on.
It stated, “Both teams were dragging through the mud, we couldn’t get a mark, both teams were going back and forth,” the head coach of the LSHS bowling program, Jim Delong said.
“When we got Dakota (in the championship match) we knew we had to score or we were going to lose.”
This wasn’t the first time under pressure, as the team had been in that bowling center, Sterling Lanes, which hosted several events throughout the 2022-2023 LSHS bowling season. The format of the Macomb Area Conference (MAC) Red Division varsity team championship was 10 games of qualifying, then if you scored high enough, you made match play which was a 3-game match, and the team with the higher series moved on. After the gruesome 10-game qualifier, whoever had the higher score would advance.
The article describes the matches leading up to the championship match. It states, “The Shorians came into match play seeded fifth and they took the early lead in each of their matches, defeating Roseville 526-482, beating Anchor Bay 595-518, and advancing to the final with a 465-432 win against Cousino” This means that Lake Shore knocked down 1,586 pins in 3 matches, averaging 198.25, and defeated Roseville, Anchor Bay, and Cousino.
The article concludes by describing the championship match, stating, “Lake Shore rolled Baker games of 201 and 238 to take a 75-pin lead into the third and final game. Dakota bounced back strong with a 255 but the Shorians countered with a 199 to win their first county championship 638-619.” This means that over those 3 games, the varsity teams averaged 212.67 for their 3 games, while their opponents averaged 206.33.
This event was gratifying for the team, as with that win, it brought the team closer together. But, with the conclusion of the 2022-2023 season last January, the team is looking forward to the upcoming season.
Reece Dryval, junior, said, “I look forward to this bowling season because bowling is my favorite sport and I want to do it in college. I look forward to facing my friends from other schools as well.”
This is valuable because if you have any kind of passion, you’ll need to have some inspiration. When looking to bowl collegiately, like Dryval, you’ll not only need to bowl phenomenally to be recruited by colleges, but you’ll also need to have some kind of inspiration. For example, if you’re looking to either bowl in-state or out-of-state at the collegiate level, regardless of whether it is at the Division one, two, or three level if you don’t have any inspiration, you’ll dread the experience.
Vance Harvey, senior said, “One thing I am looking forward to is re-linking the teams’ chemistry as we lost 4/6 teammates last year. It will be a fun experience getting to know the new bowlers more personally.”
With the exit of the Class of 2023 last year, the varsity team lost Tyler Kiroski, Connor Knight, Kyle Knight, and Zephan Lazar. With these four gone, the team will have to work their hardest to ride the wave of momentum from last season and have a successful 2023-2024 season.
Regardless of grade level, if you join the Lake Shore High School bowling team, you’ll be in for an experience that will change your life, as you’ll be able to compete against a myriad of other high schools in the Macomb Area Conference (MAC) Red Division and make memories that will last forever.